


A Simple Man

by toasty_coconut



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F, Family, Light Romance, light humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 12:38:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14081118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toasty_coconut/pseuds/toasty_coconut
Summary: To Mr. Sakurauchi, everything about his life was perfect—it was quiet and plain without too many unneeded surprises. But his daughter, Riko, managed to find ways of surprising even a simple man like him.





	A Simple Man

Hitoshi Sakurauchi was a simple man. He had attended Tokyo University, obtaining a degree in business that earned him a modest financing job in the city. He met a woman that he had taken a fancy to at a bar, and a year and a half later ended up married to her. Shortly after that, the two started to discuss having a family, and soon enough they had been blessed with one beautiful daughter.

To Mr. Sakurauchi, everything about his life was perfect—it was quiet and plain without too many unneeded surprises. The choice as to whether or not he would take his family and move to the countryside was an easy one. And so, the Sakurauchis had packed their bags and headed off to the quaint oceanic town of Uchiura.

Though he had to admit, he _was_ a little worried about his daughter during the move. Riko had always been an exceptional piano player, and there were fewer things that made him prouder than seeing her envelope herself in music up on stage, but her recent struggles with playing had caused her to become dispirited and withdrawn. Without music, she simply wasn’t herself—and it pained him to watch. He could only hope that moving would do more good than harm.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for him to start hearing the smooth melodic tones of a piano filling his home once again. Ever since Riko had joined up with that school idol group, Mr. Sakurauchi had begun to notice a new bounce in his daughter’s step. Before he knew it, she was even heading back to Tokyo for another shot at a national piano competition.

Frankly, he didn’t know much of anything about idols, let alone _school_ idols, but what he did know was that being a part of it made Riko happier than he had seen her in a long time. He would have never taken his daughter as being the type to get up on stage to dance and sing with a group of friends—Riko managed to find ways of surprising even a simple man like him.

But as long as she was happy, he was happy.

He supposed he had to owe it to that neighbor girl—Chika, he believed her name was. She was the one who had extended the invitation for Riko to join the group—or so he had heard. Mr. Sakurauchi had busied himself so much with taxes and finance reports since the move that he actually knew very little about his neighbors (not that he even considered himself to be much of a social butterfly to begin with).

Although Mr. Sakurauchi had never had an extended conversation with his orange-haired, cheery-eyed, teenage neighbor, she was around their home often enough for him to get a fairly good idea as to what type of person Chika Takami was.

For starters, she was loud and brash. It seemed as if every single time Mr. Sakurauchi sat down to enjoy a quiet cup of tea, the harsh thumping and banging of Chika’s feet against the hardwood floor upstairs would cause their house to quake. Sometimes it would be followed by the loud crashing of—what he assumed were—books and papers tumbling off of shelves to the floor.

He had even heard accounts from his wife of the girl leaping from her own window to Riko’s balcony (or, at least, attempting to). Being brash was one thing, but at times her behavior seemed downright reckless.

Secondly, she appeared to have an attention span equivalent to that of a rodent’s. Time and time again he could make out his daughter scolding Chika from her room about writing lyrics or completing homework. It seemed like the girl had trouble staying focused on one task for too long.

Though, according to Riko, once she got her mind set on something she would see it through to the end, no matter what. He figured that the whole school idol thing was proof of that since they _did_ manage to make it all the way to the Tokyo Dome and win.

Lastly, Chika’s outpouring optimism and radiant energy seemed to be infectious to everyone around her. He could see it in the chipper expressions of their neighbors as she heartily wished them a good morning before running to catch the bus. He could see it in the way the other members of her school idol group pushed themselves with beaming faces on stage in front of thousands of people. And he could see it in the way his daughter giggled and smiled, with a brightness he had never seen from her before, when Chika sat by her side on the floor of their living room.

Chika Takami was a mix of _something_ —that, he was certain of. But he couldn’t help but wonder how his daughter, who had always been so quiet and reserved, had managed to strike up such a tight-knit relationship with someone so enthusiastic and outgoing. Riko had never really been too popular with classmates while they were in Tokyo, so something must have changed upon their move to Uchiura.

But who was he to judge? He was a simple man—so he was just glad that Riko had such a good friend.

Clearly, his wife had taken notice of their daughter’s growing friendship, too. One night, while they were lying in bed together, she had said to him, “You know, dear, it seems like Riko’s gotten really friendly with the neighbors’ daughter.”

Mr. Sakurauchi didn’t look up from the book he held between his hands. “I’ve noticed,” he confirmed, turning the page of his novel. “I think it’s good that Riko’s made some close friends out here.”

He didn’t notice the quizzical look his wife was giving him. “Yes, but,” she started hesitantly, “they seem _especially_ close. Don’t you think?”

Mr. Sakurauchi nodded his head, humming in agreement as he adjusted the rim of his glasses. “I’m glad for it.”

Once again, Mr. Sakurauchi took no notice of the way his wife raised a brow at him, or the way she opened her mouth as if to say something more, but then closed it. She shifted beneath their sheets and let out a cough. “Right. Me too.”

However, there was quite a bit of truth to his wife’s words. As of late, it seemed as if Riko was spending more time with Chika than she did previously. Her weekends had become almost entirely focused on spending time with the girl—whether it was going shopping in Numazu, seeing a movie, or grabbing a bite to eat. It was like Chika was attached to her at the hip. He could have sworn she was even sleeping over at the Takami house more than she slept in her own room.

He wouldn’t harp on it too much, though. He didn’t want to be one of those strict parents who reprimanded their children for hanging out with their friends. As long as Riko continued to do well in school and kept up with practicing the piano, then he had no problem with her spending time with Chika. She may have seemed like a handful, but Mr. Sakurauchi knew the girl had a good heart.

Besides, knowing his daughter was only in Chika’s company was far better than the possibility of her running around late at night with some boy he didn’t know, doing God-knows-what. At least when she was with Chika he knew she wasn’t doing anything that would throw him for a loop.

But the fact of the matter was, as long as Riko was safe, happy, and healthy, he couldn’t ask for anything more. He wouldn’t mind a few loud crashes from upstairs here and there, or a few late nights out with a friend, if it meant his daughter was enjoying herself.

After all, in less than a year she would do him proud by going off to university somewhere to pursue music, and he could have the peace of mind knowing he had raised her to make the right choices in life. He was sure that someday she would earn herself a steady job in the city and take a fancy to some guy she’d meet at a coffee shop. She’d start a family of her own and raise them in a way that would make her as happy as she made him.

Yes, this simple man could not ask for anything more.

“Geeze,” his wife sighed one evening. “I’ve texted Riko to come down for dinner three times now and she _still_ hasn’t responded to me.”

Mr. Sakurauchi looked up from the newspaper he had been reading at the kitchen table. “Maybe her phone is off.”

Mrs. Sakurauchi tossed her phone onto the counter and shook her head disapprovingly. “Probably,” she huffed, beginning to set the kitchenware out. “Her dinner is going to get cold if she doesn’t come down soon, though.”

The three members of the Sakurauchi family had dinner every single day at 7:00 PM, right after Mr. Sakurauchi would return from work. But it was already 7:15 PM, and there was still no sign of Riko making her way to her usual seat.

Mr. Sakurauchi’s eyes trailed towards the ceiling above them. His wife had mentioned something earlier that day about Chika staying for dinner—and yet, he hadn’t heard a single one of the usual crashes, thumps, or bumps from above that accompanied Chika’s presence in their home.

Odd.

Mrs. Sakurauchi set out a bowl of rice in front of her husband before letting out a breath of exasperation. “Riko! Chika!” she called towards the ceiling. “Hurry up! Your dinner’s getting cold!”

About a minute ticked by and there was still no response from their daughter or her unusually quiet friend. Mr. Sakurauchi had always been a man of schedule, and the fact that his dinner was being pushed almost 20 minutes late was not sitting well with him. Enough was enough.

Sighing, he placed his newspaper down and rose from his seat. “I’ll get her.”

As if realizing she had made some kind of terrible mistake, Mrs. Sakurauchi’s mouth opened and she stumbled towards her husband. “Ah! Wait, dear!” she attempted to reason. But she wasn’t fast enough.

Mr. Sakurauchi exited the kitchen and made his way up the steps leading to the second floor. At the end of the hall, he could see his daughter’s door was shut, but light crept through the bottom crack onto the floor, signaling that she was inside. As he walked closer he noticed that same atypical silence from before hung in the hall.

They must be listening to music through her headphones or something, he assumed.

With this thought in mind, he knew that knocking wouldn’t do him any good. So he reached for the handle and turned it, cracking the door open.

“Riko, it’s time for—”

In that instant, Mr. Sakurauchi’s mind came to a screeching halt so fast and so hard that he could have sworn it slammed straight into a telephone pole with the force of an 18-wheeler.

Never in his 45 years of living would he have _ever_ assumed that he would find himself standing in the doorway of his daughter’s bedroom while witnessing her sitting on the floor with another girl.

 _Kissing_ another girl.

He was sure that the moment must have only lasted a second—no, half a second—before Riko ripped herself away from Chika. Her face was as red as her hair, and a wide expression of unimaginable horror was plastered across it as well.

“D-dad!” she choked, reaching out a hand as if to stop whatever he may do or say next.

But Mr. Sakurauchi didn’t give Riko the chance to continue. He barely even saw Chika spin around with a look of utter shock and embarrassment. Instead, he shut the bedroom door with speed he didn’t think was possible and retreated back into the hallway.

Mrs. Sakurauchi had stumbled her way up to the top of the stairs. “D-dear!” she breathed. “Don’t be angry.”

Whatever Mrs. Sakurauchi said to her husband after that was met with deaf ears as he stared with blank eyes at the wall in front of him. One thousand thoughts raced in a scattered mess throughout his normally organized and functional mind.

Had she always been like this? Had he somehow missed something? Was this some new trend happening among those school idols? Was he absolutely _certain_ about what he even just witnessed? It could have been nothing—it _did_ happen pretty fast.

There was no way he could have missed the signals for something like this going on in his daughter’s life. Sure, Mr. Sakurauchi regularly stayed focused on his work and daily routine, but it wasn’t as if he knew _nothing_ about Riko’s interest in things like love.

He knew things.

Like how there was that one boy she mentioned who asked her out during her last year of middle school. Yes. He remembered that. The kid was captain of the soccer team or something. All the girls loved him.

Ah, right, but she turned him down, didn’t she?

Well, there was also the fact that she had mentioned her favorite book genre was romance. She did love to read and spent a lot of time doing it. Most of the most popular romance novels and manga were stories about boys and girls, after all.

Though, wait, that book he found on her nightstand once had one girl pushing another girl against a wall on the cover, right?

Okay. Sure. But she had always called Chika her friend. She had never done anything to suggest that they could be something more. Yes, she spent a lot of time at her house, and she giggled a lot while texting her, but isn’t that just a normal part of being friends?

Then again, do friends usually hold hands like he thought he saw them doing the other night?

Oh.

_Oh._

Mr. Sakurauchi’s mind was spinning as if on a turntable that was moving too fast. The signs were all there, and he had completely missed every single one of them. His thought-process had always been so simple and straight-forward, that he never even assumed Riko could do something that would toss a curve ball into it.

But maybe it couldn’t be considered much of a curve ball if the signs had been there the entire time. Just because he hadn’t noticed until then didn’t mean it was something Riko had decided on out of nowhere. She had probably always known she was interested in girls, but never told him.

How could he have possibly missed that it was Chika, though? The way her mouth curved into a smile when she spoke of her, the fits of laughter he could hear from her room when Chika was visiting, the soft look she gave her when she thought he wasn’t watching—all of the signs were right in front of him for so long, and yet he mistook her romantic affections for being platonic.

It had always been Chika, hadn’t it?

From the moment Mr. Sakurauchi had first heard the soft notes of the piano beginning to grace his home once again, it had been Chika. She gave Riko the courage to step forward with her head held high and face her hardships. Chika was the one who was able to bring so much light back into Riko’s life when there wasn’t any.

Chika was the reason his daughter smiled again.

Suddenly, his head stopped spinning.

“Honey,” Mrs. Sakurauchi said in a careful tone, snapping her husband out of his thoughts. “Why don’t we sit down and talk about this?”

Mr. Sakurauchi stared down at his wife and noticed the concerned look painted all over her face. He wondered, had Riko told her? Or was she able to figure it out on her own? His wife had always been better with those sorts of things than he was.

He turned his head away, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his index finger. “What for?” he asked, turning on his heel as he began walking down the stairs. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

He couldn’t see what the look on his wife’s face must have been like, but he could get a feel for it based on the surprised way she asked, “Excuse me?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Mr. Sakurauchi repeated as he reached the first floor and calmly reclaimed his seat at the kitchen table. “Everything’s fine.”

Mrs. Sakurauchi followed close behind, and when he met her wide-eyed gaze, his expression softened and she eased up. He waited for a second to see if she would press the situation any further, and when she didn’t he nodded his head and picked up the newspaper he had left folded on the table.

Things did not need to be so complicated.

When Riko would finally make it downstairs with a beet red face and apologize intensely, Mr. Sakurauchi would wave a hand and dismiss it. He would claim that he should have knocked first and would remember to do so next time.

While his daughter would stare at him with an expression that was some sort of mix of relief and confusion, he would notice the tentative way Chika was peeking her head into the kitchen doorway. He would tell her to take a seat, making the claim that dinner was getting cold.

He would pretend not to notice the surprised looks exchanged by the two teenage girls, and instead, focus on putting food on his plate. The two would hesitantly sit down before beginning to do the same while making forced small talk with his wife.

It wouldn’t take long before he would join in on the small talk and the tension in the room would start to evaporate. Chika would return to her usual, loud self, and Riko would giggle the way she always did in response. Mr. Sakurauchi would crack just the slightest smile towards his wife, whose gaze would lighten in understanding.

The three members of the Sakurauchi family ate dinner at exactly 7:00 PM every single day after Mr. Sakurauchi returned from work. But tonight, Mr. Sakurauchi supposed that it was okay to take an unexpected detour from their usual routine and have dinner at roughly 7:26 PM with a welcomed guest.

Hitoshi Sakurauchi was a simple man who only wanted his family’s happiness. As long as his daughter continued to smile the way that she did when she was with Chika, then he couldn’t ask for anything more.

\--------------

_End._


End file.
